Fountain pen



R. STRASSEH'-` FOUNTAIN PEN.

APPLICATION FILED Aua.25, 192|.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

Suva/Mio@ i /llll PATENT CFFAICE.

ROBERT srRAssnR, vor NRW YoRx, N. Y.

FOUNTAIN PEN.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented lllar. 14, 1922.

Application filed August 25, 1921. Serial No. 495,384.

To @ZZ 'whom it may cou/cern Be it known that I, ROBERT S'rnassnu, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fountain Pens, of which the following is a specification. l

My improvements relate to the class of writing pens in which a supply of ink is contained in a reservoir formed within and by, or positioned within, the barrel or pen holder tube in a manner well lmown in the art, my invention being adaptable equally to the self-filler type of pen, or to the older and simpler form of fountain pen, with lilre 'desired resulta-the object being to afford adequate and facile means whereby the proximate exhaustion of inl; supply in the well may be positively ascertained by the sense of touch externally exercised; and the invention consisting primarily and essentially in the use of a float within the ink well or reservoir in conjunction with a feelarea in the side of the barrel or holding tube, substantially as herein shown, described, and claimed specifically.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1, is a sectional elevation of a fountain pen in which the holder-tube constitutes the ink font or reservoir, and to which my invention is applied;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the normally upper end of the pen holder-tube, inverted, and illustrating` the function of my inven* tion;

Fig. 3, is a cross section of the upper end of the holder tube taken upon plane of line 3 3, Fig. 1, and showing the float rest;

Fig. 4:, is a sectional elevation of a selftiller type of fountain pen, embodying my invention Fig. 5, is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing modification in the formation of. the feelarea.

It, represents the penholder-tube provided with the usual pen-carrying plug p, having the customary ink guide bar g, etc., asheretofore. ln the first three figures of the drawings the holder-tube lz, constitutes the ink font or reservoir r, whereas in Fig. 4, a self-flle1 pen is shown in which the ink well or reservoir r, consists of a flexible rubber tube r', and is provided with the customary compresser bar c, and manipulative lever Z.

In either case I provide the ink reservoir @with a float or follower f, of less specific gravity than the ink c', to be supplied to the said well fr, so that the said float will rest normally on top of the column of ink in the reservoir and coincide vproximately with the liquid level in the latter. This float may lbe made of cork, or any other suitable light buoyant material and may be solid or hollow, as may be found most expedient; its fune tion being to act as an indicator of low inlr level within the well, r, when the pen is re yersed, as illustrated in Fig. 2, of the drawings.

To this end the holder tube 7L, near its upper extremity is formed with a feel area a, coincident with the prescribed position of the float f, when the pen is reversed and the ink is nearly or wholly exhausted. To insure this coincidence of float f, and feel area o, the normally upper end of the ink reservoir r, is formed with a float rest rx, so that lack of ink supply in the pen may be indicated and ascertained before the inl; is wholly exhausted therefrom,

rlhe feel-area a, in the case of a selffiller, as in Fig. l, may consist simply ofV an aperture in the side of the holder-tube 7L, because the flexible rubber tube r', acts as a seal, to all intents and purposes; whereas, where the holder-tube itself constitutes the ink well, as in the other figures of the drawings, the feel-area a, is covered by a flexible seal e, which prevents the escape of ink while admitting of finger pressure to ascertain if the float is in coincidence with the feel-area, as in Fig. 2.

l,Vliere the holder-tube It, is made of vulcanized rubber, as is usually the case, this flexible seal a, may consist of a relatively soft section of rubber so foi-ined in the manufacture of the said holder-tube 7i., as indicated in Fig. 5.

By means of my invention the pen may be quickly and conveniently manipulated to ascertain if a re-flling of ink is desirable, by the simple expedient of reversal, and of linger pressure exerted through the feel area a. This I accomplish in a simple and inexpensive manner without altering the appearance of, or interfering with the ordinary manipulation of the pen, in any manner whatsoever. Furthermore practically no weight is added to the pen by my detective appliance,the weight of the float f, being counterbalanced by the material el1m1 Voir, it float in said inl; reservoir7 and aV holder-tube formed with e feel-area, said ink reservoir-being also formed with a Hoa-t rest, for the purpose described.

3. In a fountain pen of the character designated, the combination of an ink reservoir, a iioat in said 'ink` reservoir, and a holderetube formed with vafiexibly sealed feel-area, for the purposedesorbed.

4'.- Inva fountain pen of the character designated, the combination of en ink reservoir formed with a Hoet rest, a float in Said ink reservoir, and @holder-tube formed with a flexibly-sealed feel-area, for the purpose set forth. Y

ROBERT STRASSR..

Witnesses:

DOROTHY MIATT, GEO. WM. MIATT. 

